<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Nova by kronoz</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24619555">Nova</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/kronoz/pseuds/kronoz'>kronoz</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Twilight Series - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Additional Tags to Be Added, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Bella actually befriends the Human Squad™, Bella is very sad and lonely but makes so many friends it’s so great, Charlie is a Good Dad, Cullens/vampires arrive later, F/F, F/M, Found Family, Hurt/Comfort, Jessica Stanley is a bamf, Mike is a Good Buddy™, Renee is a bad mom, Witch!Angela, and it’s a sad one oh boy let me tell ya, bi!Mike Newton, but like - fun!, canon divergent but follows the basic Twilight-Eclipse storyline with major changes, emo!Bella, i love my fig newton son and i want to give him the world but instead i give him this angst, no spoilers but at some point jessica gets a flamethrower :), the Human Squad™ takes the stage - vampires whomst?, the Mike Newton redemption arc nobody asked for except me, the dark!twilight au you always wanted</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 10:19:37</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,873</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24619555</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/kronoz/pseuds/kronoz</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After the traumatic death of her grandparents and guardians, 16-year-old Bella Swan moves to Forks, Washington to live with her father and try to rebuild a broken life. Working through her past trauma as best as she can, Bella slowly finds a newfound family with her friends at Forks High, and maybe something more with the shy pastor’s daughter, who hides a sinister secret of her own. However, despite Bella’s efforts to find peace in her new life, she cannot escape the looming darkness that traces her every step. When the mysterious Cullen family moves to town, that darkness threatens to rip away everything Bella holds dear as she and her friends are thrust into a world of supernatural horrors, where death is a luxury compared to what fate has in store for them.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Bella Swan/Angela Weber, Mike Newton/Jessica Stanley</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>23</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. prologue: the end</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>In which Bella dies.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>I’d given a lot of thought to how I would die — even before all the close calls and chaos of the last few months — but despite my plethora of waking nightmares I never imagined it would end like this.</p><p>I stared across the clearing into the pitch black eyes of the huntress as she snarled viciously, her flaming hair the halo of an angel of death.</p><p>It was a better way to die than most that had crossed my mind, offering myself up as a sacrificial lamb in the face of this unyielding darkness, in the place of all those that I love. Ultimately it had been my decision, and that ought to count for something.</p><p>I knew that even if I’d never moved to Forks my newfound family would still be facing death now, and, terrified as I was, I was glad I had come. Life offered me a chance to finally prove myself, to tap into whatever modicum of power that sang within my veins. To save them all. It was unreasonable to grieve now that the time had come to take the final step and do my part. Yet grief settled in my stomach like a stone.</p><p>The huntress sauntered across the clearing to where I stood, alone in the woods with nothing but the clear night sky to bear witness to my final moments. I felt her hatred radiate from every silent step, and as she neared me her victorious grimace split through the starlight, baring stained, glistening teeth. With a final thought of my father’s hug, my friends’ laughter, that final kiss, I drove the blade into my skin, and let my lifeblood drain into the pure white snow.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>hey all! this started as just me desperately needing Angela/Bella content in my life but quickly got out of hand and now it’s a full blown fic! so buckle your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy ride</p><p>find me on tumblr <a href="https://the-golden-onion.tumblr.com/">@the-golden-onion</a> !</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. forks in the road</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Bella arrives in Forks, and our journey begins.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Bella jolted awake as the Greyhound came screeching to a halt in front of Sky Harbor Airport, grimacing and rubbing at her cheek where it had been pressed against the window. She hated the drive to Phoenix, hated the empty expanse of sand beaten down by the blistering sun - always had since she was a child, spending hours upon hours driving across bleak desert highways. Mercifully it was still dark outside so the mid-March heat was held at bay, but that did little to improve her mood. One of her earbuds had fallen out while she dozed, and she hastily replaced it as she stepped into the airport, letting the familiar lyrics soothe the numbness that had become a reluctant friend over the past week, pressing down upon her every waking moment. She shuffled through airport security in a daze, dragging her tiny beat up carry-on in one hand and a worn duffel bag in the other. Neither piece of luggage was particularly heavy, despite holding all her worldly possessions between the two of them. The sun still hadn’t risen by the time her plane took off, and her heart twinged with regret that she wouldn’t get one last look at her familiar desert, no matter how much she detested Phoenix and the heat. Another loss. She hadn’t gotten to say goodbye to her few friends either before Child Protective Services had swept her away from everything she knew. Tears threatened to break through her carefully constructed walls, and she hastily shut the shade on the airplane window with a wet sniff. Turning up her music, Bella curled into her hood, pushing away the memories and willing the numbness to drag her back to nothingness.</p><p>oOo</p><p>An alien world of green engulfed her as soon as she stepped outside the Port Angeles airport, causing Bella to tense slightly, eyeing the distant wall of trees suspiciously. While Renee’s transient lifestyle had led to a childhood more often than not on the go, they had never lived anywhere green. Aside from those first few months of course, but Forks had never been anything more than a cautionary tale to Bella, and a stamp on her birth certificate. Renee had made sure of that. But now, as the slowly drizzling rain washed the desert heat and dust from her skin, Bella pulled her hood down and let herself begin to relax. Rain was a fleeting comfort in her life - the only true relief from the relentless Arizona sun - and the only part about moving to Forks that she was genuinely looking forward to. </p><p>“Bells!”</p><p>Charlie strode towards her from the ancient blue car idling in the passenger pickup zone, smiling and giving her a small wave. To Bella’s relief, little had changed since the last time she had seen him a few years ago. There was always an initial shock whenever she saw her father - it’s not like Renee or her grandparents kept any pictures of him around. But there he was, slightly receding brown curls not yet turned gray, stress or laugh lines around his dark eyes (she had never spent enough time around him to figure out which), and the moustache that was as much a part of his uniform as the Fire Captain badge on his shoulder. Bella had never been able to see much of a resemblance between the two of them, aside from the eyes. <i>I am my mother’s daughter,</i> a thought always laced with bitterness. </p><p>Charlie closed the last few feet between them and immediately engulfed her in a tight hug, taking Bella completely off guard as she dropped her luggage in surprise. Physical affection had never come easily to either of them, and the lingering scent of smoke on his jacket left Bella instinctually stiffening in her father’s embrace, not quite sure how to return the gesture.</p><p>“It’s good to see you, Bells,” he said against her hair. She patted him on the back awkwardly, feeling incredibly exposed and hoping that none of the idling strangers around them were paying attention to their strained reunion. She couldn’t remember the last time they’d hugged, and a small part of her wanted to chase that comfort, but she quickly shoved that thought aside. Charlie released her after a moment but his hands stayed on her shoulders as he gave her a once-over, looking a touch embarrassed among the myriad of emotions that flitted across his face, but nothing to rival the flush Bella felt on her own cheeks. She thought she caught the beginnings of tears in his dark eyes and Bella quickly looked away - she didn’t have the energy to deal with that, and besides, he had no right to cry over her. After a moment she took a step back, and Charlie dropped his hands like he’d been burned.</p><p>“Right. Do you need to go back in for the rest of your stuff?” Charlie asked - <i>was that a sniff?</i> - scooping up the carry-on and the duffle bag before Bella could fully recover from her warring feelings. </p><p>“Ah, no, this is everything,” her voice cracked slightly from disuse, and she felt her flush deepening as she awkwardly adjusted the strap of her backpack. Charlie frowned, lifting her bags as if testing their weight, before walking back to the car. Bella hastily slid into the passenger seat to avoid any further questions. She didn’t know what he expected. She had never had many belongings; it was difficult to keep much during Renee’s constant spur of the moment “adventures”, and most of what she had accumulated over the last year in Tucson had been lost in the fire. The trunk slammed, making her jump and fumble with her seatbelt, and then Charlie was back in the car and they merged into the outgoing traffic.</p><p>Bella had been dreading the hour-long drive to Forks from Port Angeles, not really knowing what to say to her dad after not seeing him for almost three years. They hadn’t been that close before. The last time Bella had seen him was an ill-fated vacation in California, and Renee’s transient lifestyle made it difficult to stay in contact over the phone. Bella struggled to think of anything to talk about besides the obvious, which she resolutely refused to bring up. Charlie seemed to feel similarly, and the first ten minutes of their drive was spent in a mutual silence, which really was the norm for them over the years. While Bella didn’t see much mirrored in their reflections, she definitely shared her social awkwardness and introversion with her father, something Renee always lamented.</p><p>Bella honestly could not picture her parents together, and couldn’t even remember ever seeing them in the same room except for foggy memories from when she and Renee had flown up for her grandmother’s funeral when Bella was seven. Even with Renee’s deep hatred of all things Forks, Bella had grown up hearing the story of how her parents had met often enough - her mother loved regaling others with stories of her various adventures. Renee had been eager to escape her parents’ house after graduation, and kicked off her newfound independence with a road trip with her friends. They had driven all the way up the west coast, hitting all the sights, and had somehow landed in Forks, a small town with little to boast about aside from holding the title of the wettest place in the continental U.S., and its proximity to the La Push beaches. Renee and her friends crashed a bonfire on the beach being thrown by the recent graduates of Forks High and the Quileute Tribal School. Charlie was there with his friends, their eyes met across the fire, and it was love at first, fleeting, sight. After that first night they were inseparable, Charlie and his friends joining the girls on their trip for the couple weeks he had off before starting his training at the Forks Fire Department. Renee promised to visit again on their way back from Canada, and ended up ditching her friends on their return trip and spending another month in Forks with Charlie. Then he proposed, and Renee’s summer fling transformed into the perfect escape from her parents.</p><p>But of course it hadn’t lasted. California-born Renee quickly found the gray skies and oppressive greenery to be too depressing, and when Bella was only four months old, Renee moved them to a friend’s apartment in Phoenix, leaving Charlie and Forks just as quickly as she had arrived. Bella grew up bouncing between apartments and hotels, up until a year ago, when Renee met Phil and finally grew bored of her daughter as well, dumping Bella at her parents’ house in Tucson so she could follow her new husband around on his minor league tours across America. Bella hadn’t heard from her mother in months, but honestly the year with her grandparents in Tucson had been a breath of fresh air after her chaotic childhood. Until last week of course.</p><p>“Your hair’s longer,” Charlie remarked, breaking the silence.</p><p>Bella winced. “It’s um, actually I cut it since the last time I saw you.” She worried the jagged ends between her fingers, trying not to remember how the burnt hair had flaked at her touch when she chopped it away in the hotel bathroom. </p><p>“Oh - guess it grew out again.” Charlie's eyes were back on the road, and the rest of the drive passed in silence.</p><p>As much as she wanted to hate it here, Bella couldn’t help but see the potential in the lush forest and shimmering lake that ferried her to Forks. All the stories she read as a child, of lost children finding fairy circles and hidden portals to worlds of ethereal elves, lurked just out of reach beyond the shadows of the trees on either side of the highway, and, though Bella knew nothing of this green growing world, she was eager to find new subjects for her fantasies. The desert, while full of beauty in its own right, was lost to the eye of her imagination after so many years of unwavering, oppressive heat and shitty concrete apartments covered in dust with no working AC, surrounded by a poisonous, barren, landscape. Escape from her desert hell had been the forefront of her daydreams ever since she was a child. As soon as she could hold a pencil, she began to draw her own sanctuaries, the first whispers of a magical green land with a long lost princess trying to find her way to the heart of the forest where the king was trapped in a green cage, shielded from the sun, never to be seen or heard from again unless she could save him. Bella had filled so many sketchbooks with visions of this green, enchanted world, ruled by the broken-hearted king. But as she grew older the fantasy clouded over, the young princess hardened into a lonesome warrior, and the king abandoned to his fate. She still dreamed of escape, but she held no more delusions of salvation.</p><p>When Renee first brought up leaving Bella with her grandparents, Bella had asked why she couldn’t go live with her father instead. Renee has only laughed, asking why Bella would want to see a man who hadn’t contacted them in years. But after the fire, it was her father’s phone number that Bella had been able to provide. Not Renee’s.</p><p><i>Be careful what you wish for.</i> The thought had rung dully through her head like church bells all week.</p><p>The greenery flew by, and Bella found herself nodding off against the worn head rest until she felt the car slowing, and all of a sudden she was standing in front of her new home. Home. She picked at the word like an open wound. Charlie took her luggage inside, but Bella hesitated at the foot of the porch stairs, letting the rain drizzle through her hair, before she took a deep, only slightly shaky breath, and followed. </p><p>Charlie stood waiting at the top of the stairs and Bella quickly caught up, fighting a sudden rush of anxiety as she stepped into her new room. </p><p>“I tried to spruce the place up for you. The sales lady picked out the bed stuff, you like purple?”</p><p>The room was bigger than any she had slept in before, the walls painted a sage green that immediately reminded her more of her familiar dry desert palo verde and prickly pears than any of the vibrant alien greenery of this new world, and that small comfort immediately soothed some of her anxiety. There was a desk with a lamp and a cork board, an old wooden dresser, two windows with beaded curtains, a rocking chair with a worn afghan folded over the back, and yes, a bed with a dark purple comforter. </p><p>“Purple’s cool,” Bella trailed off, eyes catching on the nightstand, where a little potted cactus sat, a tiny red bow perched on top of its thorns. Her heart suddenly clenched, and she inhaled sharply, fighting back a sudden onslaught of tears.</p><p>Charlie set her luggage at the foot of the bed, looked like he wanted to say something else, but then just mumbled an “Okay,” and turned and walked out into the hall. “Ah, why don’t you get some rest, and in an hour or so we can get lunch at Cora’s?”</p><p>Bella could only nod, barely registering his words, and after a moment she heard the door close and Charlie’s footsteps fade down the stairs. She regarded the little cactus with her fists clenched at her sides. She didn’t know what to expect from Charlie - she never really got the chance to know her father on her own outside Renee’s shadow, and this thoughtful gesture threw everything she thought she knew out the window. Where did he even find a cactus in Forks anyway? Bella sank onto the bed, exhaustion suddenly hitting her like a wrecking ball. She kicked off her shoes and dug a worn dinosaur plushie from her backpack before rolling to face the little cactus. Her finger trembled as she reached out towards the small, spikey plant, as if to make sure that this tiny fragment of her past was real, not burned or abandoned like everything else. She pricked her finger against one of the needles and quickly withdrew her hand, biting her finger to distract from the pain. A tiny droplet of blood hit her tongue, and for some reason, that small hurt was her undoing. As much as she tried to fight it, all the loss and heartache she’d been stifling for the past several days, if not months, years, began pouring out of her. </p><p>She felt so selfish for crying. Her grandparents just died, burned alive in their own home, and here she was, safe and sound halfway across the country, crying over a cactus. <i>You’re supposed to mourn your family,</i> she thought acerbically, but Bella found nothing but a hollow pit in her chest when thinking about the late Mr. and Mrs. Higginbotham. The tears came harder, laced with self loathing and revulsion, stabbing into her lungs with every breath. There wasn’t any time for a funeral, nor anyone to arrange one,  and Bella hated that she had been relieved when the CPS agent had told her so. Renee was gone, seemingly forever, and for once Bella didn’t have to clean up the mess her errant mother left behind. Dumping Bella with the Higginbothams - both edging close to 80 and less than enthused about the prospect of fostering their surly, black-clad, teenage granddaughter, with whom they had no prior contact - had caused an irreparable rift between Renee and Bella, though Bella doubted her mother even noticed, so starry eyed over her shiny new husband. The Higginbothams took Bella into their house but their hearts remained closed to her even after a year of cohabitation. </p><p>She didn’t know how long she had been crying, but eventually Bella came back to herself, depleted and strung out on the purple comforter. It was raining again, the soft pitter patter of the raindrops against her window lulling her into a kind of trance as she idly looked about her new room. Well, her new old room. Yet another facet of her life denied to her by Renee. The rocking chair in the corner still had what could only be a baby blanket draped over the back, the soft yellows and blues stark against the dark wood. This must have been her room when she was a baby, before Renee had grabbed her and skipped out on Charlie and this little house in the woods. The walls weren’t as bare as she had expected, and with a note of mild surprise she recognized the remedial drawings she had sent to Charlie over the years for his birthday and/or father’s day. She never knew what to give him, the amorphous shadow of a father figure in her life, and stopped sending anything before she had ever drawn anything good. But he had kept them all, and put them up in her old room. Bella suddenly felt the urge to draw him something new, to make up for the years of missed presents. <i>...What?</i> She blinked away the tears and shook her head. So what if Charlie had kept some old art from his only child? One small cactus and a few crayon scribbles didn’t suddenly make him parent of the year. She obviously didn’t have any spare luck in the parents department.</p><p>The closet door was ajar, and with a deep sigh Bella rolled off the bed and began putting her things away. A few pairs of clean socks and underwear, the Docs she had miraculously found at a Goodwill freshman year, a black denim skirt, a couple old pairs of ripped, dark jeans, some lacey tights, the hightops she had doodled all over during the seemingly endless hours in Renee’s car, a ratty, oversized grey jacket that was softer than anything else she’d ever owned, and a few t-shirts - all black and proudly toting a skull or something else “unsavory” - a sardonic smile twisted across her face. If her Bible-thumping grandparents hadn’t been so strict she wouldn’t have any belongings left at all. It had only taken a couple days of living with the senior Higginbothams for Bella to quickly pack up all her “contraband” and stash it in her new school locker. A few weeks after Renee had left for good, Bella found a kindred spirit in her art class who offered to let her keep some of her stuff at her house. Ivy had been a good, if flighty, friend, and her house became an oasis away from Bella’s grandparents. Ivy tended to be a bit more preoccupied with her boyfriend than anything else, but she never seemed to mind Bella being a third wheel. Bella fished out the worn sports bra, gym shorts, and sneakers salvaged from her gym locker, and that was the extent of her remaining wardrobe. The old dresser drawers looked pathetically empty and Bella closed them quickly as she felt her face burn again in shame. The battered skateboard at the bottom of her duffle bag was more precious to Bella than anything she had lost in the fire, and she gently propped it up against the wall by the door, next to her discarded Vans. Her board, and the iPod she had painstakingly saved up for over a year in middle school, had been her only means of escape for as long as she could remember.</p><p>Bella grabbed the duffle bag, intending to toss it into the closet, when she discovered that it wasn’t quite empty yet. Looking back inside, she felt her throat threaten to close up again. At the bottom of the bag lay a few of Ivy’s t-shirts, including the giant blue one featuring a realistic white tiger basking in front of a magical waterfall, the one Bella had been utterly transfixed with and doodled from across the classroom her first day at the new school. Ivy had noticed the drawing while walking past her table a week later - Bella doubted she ever would have been brave enough to introduce herself otherwise. There were a couple wrinkled tanktops and socks, and then at the very bottom of the bag was a dress, one she had worn to humor her friend one night when Ivy’s older sister had let them tag along to a houseparty. It was red velvet with a sheer mesh collar and sleeves ending in points that looped around her middle fingers, with a wide studded belt around the waist. Bella loved that dress, though normally she wouldn’t be caught dead wearing something so bold. She couldn’t believe Ivy had actually given it to her. Her thoughts drifted back to that night, how powerful she had felt in that dress, dancing with Ivy at a party where nobody knew her baggage, feeling dreamy and content with Ivy’s arms around her neck, her breath against her cheek... Bella blushed at the memory. She gently slid the dress onto a spare hanger and placed it at the front of the closet where she could see it from her bed, regretting, again, that she hadn’t been able to say goodbye to her only real friend. Ivy had been in school when the CPS agent had driven Bella to her friend’s house to pick up her sole remaining belongings. </p><p>Bella had to jump to get the duffle bag up on the closet shelf, and with that she was done. She checked her backpack even though she knew she wasn’t missing anything - everything left was just whatever she had on her the night of the fire. She took out the small collection of worn books she had left in her school locker and placed them on the desk along with the miscellaneous school crap she had hung on to. Everything else she left inside her backpack, feeling like she had bared enough of her soul to this new room, this new life. She thumbed open an inner pocket and considered the half empty pack of cigarettes for a moment before abruptly zipping the backpack closed and sliding it under the bed. God only knew when she’d next be able to get more, especially in this small of a town, sleeping under a firefighter’s roof. </p><p>Not really knowing what to do next, Bella turned her door handle as quietly as she could and peeked into the hall by the staircase. No sign of Charlie. She quickly stepped into the small bathroom and closed the door behind her, not ready to face her father again quite yet. She checked the sink drawers and found that the top one had been emptied, so she put her small bag of toiletries inside and turned to look in the mirror.</p><p>Her dark brown hair was still long even after the hasty and slightly manic haircut in the hotel room bathroom, and it seemed to always emphasize the dark shadows under her eyes in contrast with her washed out pale skin. Bella pulled her hair up for a moment so she could see the small stripe of faded pink Ivy had given her when Bella helped her dye her hair a few weeks prior. It made Bella feel strong for a moment, but then her hair slipped through her fingers, and as she stared in the mirror, Renee’s face stared back at her. If she focused on the darker hair and almost black-brown eyes rather than blue, Bella could see past her mother’s visage. Almost. She hadn’t heard from her mother since their brief phone call on her birthday six months ago, and that phone number was no longer in service. Neither the hospital nor CPS had been able to reach her after the fire, and Bella hated that she had been surprised when the social worker said she was going to have to go live with her father. Renee had always been flighty, but she was still her mother. <i>Only in writing</i>, Bella thought dully. She broke away from her haunted reflection and splashed some water on her face to get rid of the tear tracks.</p><p>Charlie was sitting at the dinner table when she found her way downstairs, scribbling something in a small notebook. His face broke into a warm smile as soon as he saw her - Bella managed a small, only slightly forced smile back as he stood.</p><p>“You ready to go get some grub?”</p><p>The drive to the diner was short, but somehow even more awkward than the earlier drive from Port Angeles. Charlie kept attempting to make small talk, but Bella kept one earbud in and couldn’t bring herself to engage. Less than twelve hours into her new life and she was already drained, barely taking in the town outside the car windows. They stopped at a small diner off the main road, and though it was busy, they only had to wait a moment before being shown to a corner table. Bella shot Charlie a suspicious look, but before he could say anything, the waitress arrived.</p><p>“Well if it isn’t Captain Swan!” she beamed at Charlie, her beautiful tight black curls bouncing as she came to a halt in front of their table, and Bella thought she detected a hint of something more than simple friendliness behind the smile. The woman looked to Bella. “And this must be the lovely Isabella - we’ve all been looking forward to seeing you again! Though of course I’m so sorry to hear about your grandparents.”</p><p>Bella felt like someone had punched her in the gut, her face immediately flushing bright red. She was suddenly extremely aware of the room full of strangers trying not so discreetly to catch a glimpse of her and Charlie over their food. She gave a quick nod, avoiding Cora’s warm, sympathetic eyes, and then hastily ordered the first vegetarian option she saw on the menu. As Carlie placed his order and chatted with Cora, Bella sunk low in her chair and hid her flaming face behind the menu, squeezing her eyes shut against the cheery diner.</p><p>As soon as Cora left the table, Bella glared at Charlie. “Does the whole town know?” she hissed.</p><p>“Bells,” Charlie started, a resigned look in his eyes, “it’s a small town. When word got out that you’d be coming to live with me, people started asking questions. Nothing I could do about it.” He sighed. “I know it’s your first day in a new town, and you’re dealing with much more on your plate than any girl your age should have to, but Cora’s a friend. She meant nothing by it.”</p><p>Indignation and admonishment fought for dominance in Bella’s mind, and she longed to pull her hood up to avoid the occasional stares from their fellow diners. But she didn’t want to seem even ruder than she had so far, so she resorted to taking a long drink of water and staring out the window.</p><p>Cora chose this moment to return with their food, and seemed intent on smoothing over the tension from earlier. </p><p>“I just can’t get over how grown up you are, and so gorgeous.” Bella blushed as Cora shot her a knowing smile that glowed against her dark brown skin, but she was quickly distracted by the scruffy, wild eyed man that appeared over Cora’s shoulder.</p><p>“Hey, Bella - you remember me? I played Santa one year!”</p><p>Bella stared blankly at the newcomer. With his severely balding head, obviously broken nose, and worn leather jacket, she couldn’t picture anyone who less resembled Santa.</p><p>Charlie rolled his eyes, but Bella caught the slight grin under his moustache. “Waylon, she hasn’t had a Christmas here since she was four.”</p><p>“Bet I made an impression though! Didn’t I?”</p><p>“You always do.”</p><p>Bella had never before felt more like a deer in headlights. She looked to Charlie pleadingly.</p><p>“Buttcrack Santa?” Cora offered with a nonchalant shrug. Bella choked out a startled laugh - <i>what the fuck?</i></p><p>“Hey - kids love those little bottles though.” Both Cora and Charlie groaned at this, and Bella immediately decided Waylon was her new favorite person. </p><p>“Alright, let the girl eat her garden burger, Waylon.” Cora gently pushed him back towards his table before turning back to Bella. <i>Well, second favorite person.</i> “And when you’re done, I’ll bring you your favorite. Berry cobbler, remember? Your dad still has it. Every Thursday.” This time Bella was sure she caught something deeper in Cora’s lingering smile as she turned back to the kitchen, but Charlie was looking down at his food, and Bella couldn’t tell if his flushed cheeks were from the teasing or if he shared Cora’s feelings.</p><p>“Thank you, that’d be great,” she mumbled, giving Cora a hopefully not too awkward farewell smile, and trying to remember the last time she had eaten berry cobbler. </p><p> </p><p>oOoOoOo</p><p> </p><p>“It’s time.”</p><p>A grin split across Alice’s face as the clouds faded from her eyes. She laughed brightly and kissed a bewildered Jasper on the cheek before dragging him downstairs to the den where the rest of their adopted family sat around enjoying a peaceful evening. Edward looked up from his piano with narrowed eyes at her cheerful approach, but Alice had already guarded her thoughts from him behind the wall of gibberish she kept ready for moments like this. As if she would ever let him spoil this surprise!</p><p>“It’s time!” she repeated, skipping to the center of the room.</p><p>“Time for what?” Edward's voice was laced with suspicion, but Alice ignored him.</p><p>“Time for us to move back to Forks!”</p><p>All movement in the room suddenly ceased, the only sound coming from the tv where the video game Emmett and Esme were playing abruptly came to a climatic explosion. Alice’s grin widened at her perfect timing. Then everyone’s eyes went to Emmett.</p><p>“What did you do?” Esme put down her controller to smack him lightly on the arm. Alice’s mirth grew at his desperate attempt at an innocent expression, flashes of his wild antics over the years flying through her mind’s eye.</p><p>“Nothing, Ma, I swear! I’ve been so good!” Esme narrowed her eyes and he immediately caved. “Okay there was one incident with a moose on the highway but I outran it and I swear no one saw me—”</p><p>Before it could go any further, Carlisle cut in. “Forks? Why Forks? The house in Norway is next on our rotation.”</p><p>Alice shook her head. “It has to be Forks. And it’s not because of Emmett, Mom. I had a vision!” She twirled and threw her hands up in the air with a flourish, Jasper chuckling softly at her side.</p><p>“No way. It’s only been sixty years, they’ll still remember us.” Alice frowned at Rosalie from across the table where she and Carlisle were working on some sort of complicated astrophysics model they’d been building for the better part of the past week. The metal rods glittered in the snowfall-filtered light, briefly distracting Alice from her irritation with their delicate, interweaving movements before Jasper nudged her back into focus.</p><p>“No they won’t! I swear it’ll be totally fine. Humans have like, the worst memory, and besides! Jasper and I weren’t even with you guys back then! We’ll be fine.”</p><p>“But why now?” Esme asked, shooting Emmett a lingering look of suspicion that quickly melted into a warm smile when he ducked his head in embarrassment. “We’ve only been here for a year, we have plenty of time left before we even need to think about moving again.”</p><p>“I know it’s sudden, but trust me. Please?”</p><p>“You’re dodging the question,” Edward said, crossing his arms.</p><p>“Let’s just say we have someone to meet. Someone important. And that’s all I’m going to say about it, so you can shut up and stop trying to read my mind, Edward!” Alice added quickly, her voice going a little shrill towards the end. Edward snappled his mouth shut around his rebuttal, but the stink eye he threw at her was palpable.</p><p>“Alright now settle down you two,” Carlisle said, rising from the table and walking to stand next to Esme’s perch on the couch. Alice felt a gentle wash of calm flood her veins and glared up at Jasper, but was slightly mollified when he threw her a conspiratorial wink behind Carlisle’s back. “If it’s as important as you say, Alice, then we’ll go. However it will be a little tricky. Rosalie’s right - this is cutting it pretty close, and there are bound to be a few older denizens who may remember us. We’ll have to wait at least until the start of the next school year to arouse the least amount of suspicion.”</p><p>Alice started to protest, but before she could, Rosalie cut her off. “I’m not going back. Not so soon, not after what happened with that girl. It’s too risky.” The mood in the room quickly sombered. Esme turned to hide her face in Carlisle’s side. </p><p>“That wasn’t us, Rose,” Emmett said softly, taking their mother’s hand in his and rubbing his thumb over her knuckles. </p><p>“It may as well have been.”</p><p>A brief silence fell over the family, before Alice said quietly, “Please, Rose. I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.”</p><p>A few moments passed, the future roiling with uncertainty in Alice’s mind, but the human girl’s dark brown eyes remained solid as stone in the center of it all.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>hey all~ cheers to the first chapter!!</p><p>angela &amp; jess and more of our main cast of characters will be making their debut in the next chapter. i’m really enjoying exploring a more damaged bella- she was way too well adjusted in the books, especially with renee as a mother.</p><p>please let me know what you think in the comments!! :)</p><p>you can find me <a href="https://the-golden-onion.tumblr.com/">@the-golden-onion</a> on tumblr!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>